(Some 'VOWEL' Play Going On!)
''ALWAYS'' or ''CONSISTENTLY'' (aei)?

“Aei” is a Greek word of interest to Bible students who wonder how long sinful people will remain unrepentant after they die.  Concerning unbelievers who were preparing to stone Stephen, for example, the NIV of Acts 7:51 reads, “You always [aei] resist the Holy Spirit.” In fact, the NIV likewise translates aei as “always” on every other occasion. But when rendering aei, the translators of the Concordant Version (CV) avoided the word “always”, translating aei as “ever”.


The Concordant Lexicon and The Concordant Greek Text present aei as meaning a-ei or “un-if” (the literal counterpart of a-ei), which means unconditionally or “on each and every occasion.” Colloquially this would mean something like “no ifs, ands, or buts about it!” or in other words “consistently.”  Aei does not refer to continuity throughout extended or infinite time.  Hence the words used for translating aei (always, always, continually, continuously, and ever) wrongly convey the idea of absolute permanency.


While this may seem to be a small and insignificant issue, it affects ones understanding of seven Bible passages in which aei occurs.  One example is Acts 7:51 directed toward Stephen’s persecutors. Another is Hebrews 3:10 where one must either believe that the Israelites who rebelled against God will “always” be resisting Him (in the future) or that they “consistently” did so in the past.  The latter is correct because aei says nothing against God’s changing their outlook posthumously, in response to Christ’s victorious and all-inclusive work on the cross.         

TURA (The Ultimate Reconciliation of All, 24635 Apple St., Newhall, CA 91321-2614)
www.restoreallthings.org/gpage.html6.html consult the Writings of George Howe.
www.greenwood.net/~cdevans/srindex.htm  consult “systematic reconciliation. georgefhowe@sbcglobal.net
www.reconciliationbiblesongs.org.